Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, a method of controlling the same, and a storage medium.
Description of the Related Art
Reconfigurable devices, such as a PLD (Programmable Logic Device) that is able to modify an internal the logical circuit configuration, or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), are well-known. Function modification for a PLD or an FPGA is realized by writing circuit configuration information that is stored in a non-volatile memory, such as a ROM, to an internal configuration memory, which is volatile memory, at an activation time, and thereby switching a function of an internal logical block. The circuit configuration information of the configuration memory is cleared at a time of a power supply disconnection for the apparatus, so it is necessary to perform reconfiguration by writing the circuit configuration information to the configuration memory once again at a time of a power supply activation. In this way, an approach of performing configuration of a hardware resource only once is called static reconfiguration.
In contrast, a circuit for which it is possible to change a logical circuit configuration while the circuit is operating has also been developed, and an approach of changing a logic circuit during operation is referred to as dynamic reconfiguration. There is also an FPGA for which it is possible to rewrite just a particular region rather than the entire chip, and this rewriting is called partial reconfiguration. With partial reconfiguration, partial reconfiguration of a logical block within an FPGA is realized by rewriting only a portion of a configuration memory, rather than by rewriting the entire configuration memory at a time of dynamic reconfiguration.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-235074 discloses, as an example of reconfiguring during operation of an FPGA, a method of, when a software error or the like occurs after configuration of the FPGA, reconfiguring a corresponding circuit.
In such a semiconductor device, refinement of semiconductor process rules has been performed conventionally to improve a capability and to improve yields at a time of manufacture. Thereby, because it is possible to configure a large scale circuit with the same die size, it was advantageous from a point of cost-performance. In contrast, through refinement of the process rules of a semiconductor in this manner, the width of a wiring line for conveying a signal becomes thinner, so it is not possible to ignore effects of a phenomenon—in which a defect occurs in the form of a wiring line—called electromigration. A technique in which electromigration does not occur and that does not reduce the life span of a semiconductor device is also in demand for reconfigurable devices.